An Edmonton writing and travel blog featuring beer, food and literature. Follow me as I adventure the worlds of publishing, literature and travel as a "Big Time Writer."

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Greetings folks. As you can see, something has changed in the design of my blog. There is an image and it's the cover of my upcoming novel, Fall From Grace. It's a great cover. But the truth is, I had little to do with it. If you ever get a big time book deal like me, or even a small time book deal, chances are, you will have no input on your cover. You won't be able to offer one of your great photos or drawings, and you won't be allowed to get your friend to design the cover. Most of the work is done by the publisher, and rightly so. They know what works, what stands out, what grabs the eye and in the end, what sells. Well, they don't know exactly what sells but they have a better idea than you do. Especially a publisher like mine, Forge Books. They've been in business for over 30 years, they publisher hundreds of books year. Of course they know better than me on what works as a cover. My editor asked for some ideas for possible images and I gave him some. One or two made on the cover but the actual design was done in New York by an art director at Forge. He put together the whole package and made it work. I like it, my editor likes it, my agent likes and so do a few booksellers I know. And that's good. So around March 29, 2011 and thereafter, look out for my book. Pick it up and buy.

About Me

Wayne Arthurson is huge TAR (The Amazing Race) fan, having watched all the US, Asian and Australian versions of TAR. He's also a bestselling crime novelist and freelance writer. Plus, he plays drums in a band called Beerbelly.

Things I Like

I read 3-5 books/week and have been reading books since I was about 7. So to ask me to pick my favourite book(s) in the past 40 years is crazy.

I listen to a lot of music, play drums in an indie rock band and for a number of years in the 90s, played drums in a punk rock band. But my tastes in music is diverse from punk to classical, from jazz to alt-country and everything in between. I'm not a big fan of radio pop these days but when I was a kid, I was. So that's it about music.

I like to watch TV as well.

Are you starting to see a trend here about my likes?

And movies, I go to plenty of movies and watch them on TV or on my computer. Don't ask for my favourite.